“Well... (Laughing) what’s really funny is that if I show up at a show with the band there’s always someone who goes, ‘Oh I wish you played more alone’. And if I show up alone there’s always someone who goes, ‘Oh I wish the band was here.’ You can’t please everyone. It’s hard if you try to do it, but once you realise you can’t do it, it’s not hard anymore. It’s been a long battle to get to this point but it seems to me people get that it’s a conscious choice that there’s two different manifestations of these songs: one that’s how it is when I play alone and one with the band. “I think people have their preference but I think it’s gotten to the place where the real hard-core fans respect that and get something out of both and like going to a show and not knowing what kind of show they’re going to get. But at the same time I’m sure there’s people who wish the whole record was acoustic and I’m sure there’s some people who wish I’d never make an acoustic song again. And there are some people who aren’t ever going to like either. You can’t please everyone. You’ve got make it for yourself, and that doesn’t mean make it inscrutable and opaque so people can’t get into, but you have to like it yourself and everyone will or won’t from there.”

Bad Books, a “true accident, if there ever was one”, has turned into a pretty successful stroke of serendipity. Conceived and born within a

week, from the simple idea of filling some time off by collaborating with long-time friends Manchester Orchestra, it has now turned into a fully-fledged band that has toured the States, played festivals and a second album on the horizon. “It’s ninety-per-cent finished. We still have to do keyboards and percussion, so all of Chris Freeman’s parts - the lazy son-of-a-bitch! I think it’s really good. It feels more like a band than the last one did.” One could be forgiven for thinking that there would be a clash of egos when having to collaborate and share their creative jurisdiction, given that both Kevin and Andy Hull (lead singer of Manchester Orchestra) are used to having sole creative control of their respective projects. “I feel like, because we both have an immense amount of respect for each other one’s instincts, if one of us feels really strongly about seeing something through the other one will go for it and if it doesn’t work we’ll be like ‘I don’t think that’s it.’ But it is a different experience, for sure, going into something like that and I’m sure it is for Andy too, but I think we get good things out of each other because you have to give over some of that control.”

But what about the long term future for Kevin, surely someone who clearly loves every aspect of what he does won’t be calling it a day anytime

soon? “I can’t see a non-circumstantial reason why I would stop doing what I’m doing. I still love writing, I still love playing it in front of people and I still love travelling. I have a really nice life at home with very understanding people that are very supportive about what I do. I don’t have children and I could see that being an issue, but I also have friends like David Bazan or Matt Prior from the Get Up Kids that do it and they make it work. It’s a lot of work but if you have the right situation it’s not an impossible thing to do. “The only way i could see myself stopping is if I had a sea change where I was just burnt on it or if it became something that was totally financially untenable. Like, if people stopped caring and people stopped coming to shows and I was spending money to go out and play. But that doesn’t mean I would stop making songs or writing music or whatever, it just means that I don’t know that I would tour the way I do. It’s what I want my life’s work to be. I guess I could have seven records by the time I’m 33, so if i keep going at that rate, 15 by 43. By 53 or even 63, who knows?”

“It’s ninety-per-cent finished. We still have to do keyboards and percussion, so all of Chris Freeman’s parts - the lazy son-of-a-bitch!”